Canes are well known for providing support and stability for individuals having difficulty walking. Unfortunately, many individuals who require the use of a cane for walking lack an ability to bend over and retrieve small objects from the ground. Consequently, a number of canes have been devised with grasping devices and actuation mechanisms to assist an individual using the cane in reaching and retrieving objects.
While canes equipped with gripping mechanisms represent improvements over conventional canes, they suffer several shortcomings. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,392,800, 5,636,650 and 5,640,985 all describe hollow canes in which tension applied to a cable extending within the hollow cane body causes a grasping arm pivotally mounted near the lower rubber tip of the can to pivot inward, closing a gap against the rubber cane tip to grasp an object, with a spring also attached to the grasping arm being used to pivot the grasping arm outward, away from the cane tip, and to maintain tension within the cable. In the device of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,392,800 and 5,640,985, the cable is pulled by pivoting a lever near the handle of the cane. In the device of U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,650, the cable is pulled by sliding a finger grip located below the cane handle, and a system of pulleys slidably mounted within the cane provides for operation of the grasping arm after the length of the cane is varied by sliding one tube within another.
While such canes equipped with gripping mechanisms are an improvement over conventional canes without any gripping tool, they suffer some shortcomings. For example, such canes are not readily adjustable.
Changing the height of the cane to accommodate individuals of different heights is laborious and difficult. As another example of a shortcoming, the gripping mechanisms interfere with normal use of the cane.
Yet another shortcoming is that the gripping members are not particularly well designed for grasping small objects such as a card or sheet of paper, a coin or a key. A further shortcoming is an inability to stand upright or hang from a support surface. If a conventional cane falls, the user must bend to retrieve it.
Moreover, the gripping force of such prior art canes is limited by elastic tensile members in the linkage or resilient gripping fingers. This provides a substantial disadvantage when using the device to lift relatively heavy objects.
Accordingly, a need exists for an adjustable cane with an inelastic adjustable length linkage, enhanced grasping mechanism, magnetic pickup, hanging tip and self-standing base. This invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems and solving one or more of the needs as set forth above.